Public Hearing - EISs for the Proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal ...

11/3/2012
1 the San Juan Islands, and specifically Orcas Island since
2 the 1930s when my grandparents and parents vacationed
3 here from their home in Portland, Oregon.
4 Later in the 1940s and '50s, three of my siblings
5 moved permanently to Orcas, and my husband and I followed
6 part-time when we bought a vacation cabin on the west
7 shore.
8 Since retiring here 20 years ago, I've spent many
9 hours on the beach between YMCA Camp Orkila and Point
10 Doughty with children and grandchildren.
11 We consider it our duty to be good stewards,
12 cleaning up litter and looking for invasive plants and
13 animals, which may have been brought into the Salish Sea.
14 I've found species of exotic sea grasses and salt
15 water mussels invasive on our beaches. The increase of
16 tanker traffic in the waters surrounding the San Juan
17 Islands, if allowed to dock at Gateway Pacific Terminal,
18 will increase the probability of foreign organisms being
19 brought to our beaches.
20 Not only might these aquatic plants and animals
21 displace our native species even more than they do now,
22 but they would also negatively impact local enterprises,
23 such as oyster, mussel, clam and geoduck farming. How
24 can these invasive species be measured?
25 CAROL HOOPER: Hi, my name's Carol Hooper. I
Seattle Deposition Reporters, LLC www.seadep.com * (206) 622-6661 * (800) 657-1110 Page: 8